


i was lowkey (that's the old me)

by yongguks (pastel)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M, only sorta tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:05:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7505881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastel/pseuds/yongguks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>jaehyun decides that johnny and taeil are both strong people - they can handle whatever comes their way.<br/>he doesn’t fully realize just what he’s done until johnny starts appearing in all of his photographs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i was lowkey (that's the old me)

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [NCTprompts](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/NCTprompts) collection. 



> "Taeil is a superstar but his paparazzi find him boring. Pitying the guy, one of them decides to take the matter into his own hands."

moon taeil has coffee at six thirty pm sharp in a small, appropriately named cafe called ‘little coffee house’ every thursday night. it’s common knowledge to any of his fans - taeil even has a special, slightly enclosed table by the window for anyone who would want to take pictures and share in his weekly ritual. jaehyun knows this, because he runs one of the most prominent moon taeil fansites on the internet.  
he’d first found out about taeil through a classmate, but as soon as he heard _that voice_ -  
well, the rest is history.  
it was some consolation that taeil was a solo singer, rather than one of many in some boygroup, for both his parents, his ego, and taeil’s popularity.  
speaking of taeil and his popularity, jaehyun knows that his favorite idol isn’t the nation’s darling, unfortunately, because off-stage, he’s kind of… boring. (jaehyun personally thinks it makes him more human, his little cafe routine and the quiet way he goes about his life - but naver doesn’t tend to agree with him.)  
it’s three in the morning on a wednesday night and he’s editing his photographs, half-asleep, when his phone buzzes with a new text.  
JOHNNY:  
ive been bored all week u havent been paying attention to me _3:07 AM_  
ur up right sweaty _3:09AM_  
an idea presents itself to him, practically gift-wrapped in expresso-flavoured exhaustion and the drama ost he’s got playing in one ear. jaehyun looks from the harsh brightness of his computer screen - it’s doubled by the radiance of taeil’s face, of course - to that of his cell phone. johnny is his friend. johnny is fun. people think taeil is boring. johnny can make taeil seem fun. taeil will get popularity and attention and johnny won’t be bored.  
it’s perfect.  
JAEHYUN:  
im still busy _3:10AM_  
he looks at his computer screen for encouragement.  
JAEHYUN:  
oh ye a h i set up a blind date for u _3:11AM_  
table by the window,little coffee house @6:30PM tmrw _3:11AM_  
ill send u the address later _3:11AM_  
JOHNNY:  
i have nothing better to do so  
what the hell _3:12AM_  
if it ends badly u owe me _3:12AM_  
in the morning jaehyun isn’t sure why he’d called it a blind date, of all things, but it does sound like something he would do, three am or otherwise. he briefly considers the worst consequences - public humiliation for johnny, the end of taeil’s career - and suddenly remembers he has a physics exam he hadn’t studied for in favour of editing those photographs. flipping through notes on quarks and electron spin, jaehyun decides that johnny and taeil are both strong people - they can handle whatever comes their way.  
he doesn’t fully realize just what he’s done until johnny starts appearing in all of his photographs.

it’s quiet when he enters the cafe, a pop song he recognizes but doesn’t know playing over the speakers. the place has a nice ambiance, but at the same time… it’s just a coffee shop. johnny pauses a moment at the entrance, looking for the ‘slightly hidden table by the window with the guy with grey-blond hair’ jaehyun had described to him.  
(if he was being completely honest, he didn’t have the most confidence in jaehyun’s choice of blind date, but it would keep him occupied.)  
and there was the guy.  
he wasn’t bad looking at all, and the grey-blond thing wasn’t the mess that johnny had imagined it would be. he looks almost familiar, actually - but johnny can’t quite put his finger on why.  
then again, if he’s one of jaehyun’s friends he’s probably seen him somewhere before.  
one of the baristas - the one with the stare - gives him a strange look as he walks over to the table, but he brushes it off.  
“hey,” he says as he takes the seat across from the guy, “i’m johnny seo, nice to meet you.”  
the guy looks outright shocked by johnny - he jumps in his chair and his eyes are open wide.  
“um,” the guy begins, “nice to meet you, johnny?” he doesn’t say johnny’s name exactly right, but it’s kind of cute.  
“my korean name is youngho, if that’s easier. now,” he looks the guy dead in the eye, examining his face, “i feel like i’ve seen you somewhere before? my friend set me up on a blind date and you’re the guy he described, but you just look really, really familiar.”  
the guy had looked away after a few seconds of johnny’s staredown, but now he meets his gaze again. “um, i’m taeil? moon taeil?”  
johnny realizes he’d just been calling the guy _the guy_ this whole time, and feels a little bad about it.  
one of the baristas proves that _moon taeil_ isn’t just a fake name - his nametag just reads the number ‘10’ - he walks right up and interrupts further conversation, notepad in hand, to ask, “your regular for you, taeil? and there’s no problems?” the barista’s eyes briefly flick in johnny’s direction. taeil seems to hesitate, but he nods. ten turns to johnny in full now, “and you, sir?”  
johnny flounders for a moment - he has no idea what this place offers or what it doesn’t. he decides to play it safe with the one drink they can’t possibly mess up: “hot chocolate?” nametag number 10 seems satisfied with this answer and leaves to deliver the orders to the staring-into-your-soul barista.  
“so,” johnny asks with an eyebrow wiggle, “what’s ‘the regular’?”  
taeil laughs - it’s one of the nicest johnny’s heard - and explains that he’s a simple guy with simple preferences: all he usually gets is a plain latte.  
conversation flows easily from there, starting with their coffee preferences (johnny really just likes anything with chocolate), but somehow they end up talking about their friends. “like i said, my friend said this was a blind date and he just barely told me last night. did he tell you at all? you seemed really surprised.” he asks, passing the cup handle between his hands.  
taeil shakes his head no. “but i do think i have a friend who would do that, so maybe this isn’t just a prank _your_ friend played on _you_.”  
johnny raises an eyebrow. “oh, who?”  
he suggests “jaehyun” at the exact same time taeil says “kim dongyoung”. there’s a tense, worried silence as they stare, considering each other as if suddenly faced with something dangerous. this wasn’t the rushed blind date they’d thought it was - they weren’t supposed to have met at all.  
as if in agreement with this new tension, there’s a pained yell from right outside the shop.  
it’s only then johnny notices the line of cameras practically pressed up against the windowpane. the shout seems to have come from the ranks of the camera-wielders, a boy sprawled on the ground behind the front lines. he almost looks like someone johnny knows, but there’s a black mask covering the lower half of his face.  
“what the fuck.”  
johnny is very eloquent.  
taeil, on the other hand, seems relatively unfazed. “they’ve never been violent before.” he sounds like he’s used to the camera people.  
it takes a few moments for everything to click.  
johnny leans back in his chair, looking taeil up and down, from his silver-blond hair to his adidas superstars. “you’re one of those, like, idol kids, right?” he mimes a dance move he’s fairly certain he saw a girl group do at some point.  
taeil offers up a cautious smile, clearly made uncomfortable by johnny’s dancing. “i’m a singer. an idol, i guess, but i’m not part of a group. um, not to sound too, uh, cocky, or anything, but you seriously haven’t heard of me? moon taeil?” he’s playing with his fingers - somehow, he looks like the more nervous of the two of them, and johnny’s the one that’s just mistaken a celebrity for his blind date.  
“no, sorry,” johnny says, running a hand through his hair just to give himself something to do, “i just moved to korea pretty recently, actually. from chicago.”  
taeil nods. he looks like he’s both relieved and disappointed. he looks down at his coffee cup for a moment and turns back to johnny. “can i be honest with you?”  
johnny nods, but tries not to seem too eager. taeil is a celebrity, after all.  
“um, i actually believed you when you said you were my blind date because you’re, ah, really tall and, um, reallygoodlooking so…. uh, i thought you were a model and you’ve got a foreign name so, um. please don’t tell the press anything that could.. y’know?” taeil pretends to cut his head off with his hand.  
johnny can’t help his look of surprise. sometimes he forgot that in korea, celebrities dating - idols, especially - had much larger repercussions on their careers than the gossip-column fate he was used to in the us. (unless you were taylor swift, maybe. taeilor swift? johnny tried not to laugh - they were talking about _serious_ things right now.)  
“yeah, dude, no way i’d tell people. i don’t think i would even know how to spread a rumor if i wanted to, y’know?” he says, smiling.  
taeil nods, looking infinitely less shaky than he had just seconds ago. “but that being said…” he brings his latte to his lips, eyes playful over the brim of the ceramic cup, “i wouldn’t mind if you stayed.”

JOHNNY:  
luv u kinky muah muah ur the Best _9:34PM_  
VIEW ATTACHED IMAGES (10)?  
JAEHYUN:  
can u not _9:35PM_  
i know u know taeil is one of my favs but _9:35PM_  
i dont want or need ten pictures of u guys cuddling thnx _9:36PM_

**Author's Note:**

> title is from f(x)'s papi.  
> this is it this is the shittiest thing i've ever written and i apologize to the prompter.  
> for works of greater quality by me, get in touch @oilplus on tumblr. i do take drabble requests. shoutout to my seagull pal for yelling at me to actually finish this.   
> (keep your eyes open for a yutaewin dream pack/raven cycle au, it might happen.)


End file.
